Plans Progress for Gallina Centro: Retail for the Germantown and Collierville Markets

Boyle soon will begin development of Gallina Centro, a comprehensive 95-acre multi-use development which will feature the Memphis area’s most promising new retail center.

Strategically located in east Shelby County at the common border between Germantown and Collierville, the high-profile project will be developed at the southwest corner of Poplar Avenue and Houston Levee, with Winchester Road bordering on the south.  Named both for the family who originally owned the land and the Italian word for a town’s "commercial center," Gallina Centro will face Houston Levee and will be highly visible from all three thoroughfares.  The project’s design will include elements of classic Italian architecture to tie in with its name and to create a unique ambiance in this affluent and rapidly growing trade area.

The property will be developed  in two phases.  Boyle has purchases 45 acres of the site to develop Phase One, which will contain up to 450,000 square feet of retail space.  A mix of destination and convenience retailers are targeted for Phase One, with prominent national "big box" retailers and a grocery store anticipated as anchors.  Gallina Centro will also feature smaller shops and a number of restaurants and entertainment uses serving the regional market.  Fritz Mattern, director of retail leasing at Boyle, says the company is actively negotiating with six anchor prospects at this time.

"We are in the planning stages and expect to break ground in the spring of 1999 on the retail portion, as key deals now in negotiation firm up," Mattern says.  "We are looking for a summer 2000 opening."  The remaining 50 acres in Phase Two will be developed in a partnership with the Gallina family and will potentially include retail, hotel, and office uses.

The convergence of these three major roads-Poplar Avenue, Houston Levee and Winchester- in the immediate vicinity of the new Noconnah Parkway establishes Gallina Centro as a true regional destination.  Gallina Centro will draw from a regional trade area encompassing east Shelby County and northwest Mississippi.  Of particular importance is Gallina Centro’s close proximity to the Germantown market, which has virtually no additional commercial sites available for retail development.  Demographics within a six-mile radius of the site reflect a current population of more than 100,000 and an average household income of $97,511.